People who lose or leave their belief in God are often doing so in response to those lies
I know that many believers hold this view, but at least for me and those I know, this is not the case. The confusion probably arises when we criticize the damage that religion has done based on the understanding believers have about their god. But this is not why I shed my belief. There is no evidence for a god, any god, or gods, and that is what I base my nonbelief on. I was not put off by 'lies' about god, because there really is no such thing since I believe that god is a creation, therefore how does one lie? The author gets to define the character, period.
God is not real to me, but he is real to the majority, therefore it is a good thing for Atheists to understand what kind of god the people around them believe in. We must operate in a world that perceives god as real, because it influences how the people around us act. So we DO acknowledge the perception, and perception is more important than reality. It really doesn't matter if I know the god of a person does not exist, if HE believes it exists, and is preparing to fly a plane into a building, or to shoot the abortion doctor around the corner.
That is why discussions lead to us analyzing and criticizing these gods and the inconsistencies with what a believer is saying. We are addressing their perception, not ours, because we must.
Kind of like a child that worries about a monster in the closet. A parent knows it's not there, but if we can't convince the child, then the next step is to say something convincing about that perception----like this kind of monster doesn't eat children but scares other monsters away.
NC
